What You're Hiding Underneath
by The Smokey Gerbil Cloud
Summary: Anni has secrets. Big ones. She's been part of the flock since their very creation, but now she fears for everyone's safety. Fang and Anni have been best friends always, but they both hide deep feelings for each other. The only problem is Anni's power.
1. Breakfast, Secrets and an Almost Kiss

(A/N): Hey Guys! So uh, I started writing this fanfic ages ago, and I found it just sitting in my Maximum Ride folder (yes, I have different folders for the different fandoms for which I have written fanfics), and decided to upload it. Hope you like it, because I'm pretty sure this is one of the first fanfics I ever wrote.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize.

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><p>Anni<p>

My long, golden blonde hair swished in front of my face as I danced around the kitchen, preparing breakfast for the flock, I had gotten up early specifically for this. I had told Iggy not to worry last night, so naturally, he was sitting on the couch listening to me move. I knew that the others would soon be waking up so I set the three massive plates loaded with bacon and eggs on the table, placing Nudge and Angel's newest favorite cereal next to them. I placed knives, forks and spoons around the table accordingly while still bopping up and down to the song I was humming. I spun around while setting down the various dishes on the table, pulling all the chairs out before jogging up the stairs.

"Wakey, wakey guys, breakfast is ready!" I heard several groans from the boys room, probably from Gazzy seeing as Fang didn't show enough emotion to groan. Max slouched out of her room, heading into Nudge and Angel's room. I sighed as they passed me, shortly followed by Gazzy.

"No one start eating yet!" I called down the stairs, ignoring the resulting complaints that echoed up the stairs. I pushed the boys room door open and edged closer to Fang's bed. I sighed as he rolled over, obviously hiding as if I would go away.

"Fang?" I whispered, approaching his side. "Fang?" I leaned over him, using my hair to tickle his face. He groaned quietly and I jumped onto the bed, landing neatly in his lap, effectively knocking the wind out of him. He sat up, glaring at the smug look on my face.

"I was having a," He was interrupted by a long yawn. "Rather good dream." He wrapped his arms around me and pulled us both onto our sides and curled himself around me.

"Ooh, did it involve bacon and eggs?" He furrowed his eyebrows and looked at me questioningly. "Come on Fang!" I exclaimed dragging him out of bed, blushing slightly as I noticed he was only wearing a pair of loose grey track pants. I struggled to drag him out of the room into the hall, flushing again as his bare skin brushed my side. "Hurry up, breakfast is ready and everyone's already at the table! You know it's only a matter of time before one of them snaps and starts eating Angel!" Fang sent me a rare, sly smile.

"Unless it's Angel that cracks, then we're all in trouble." I grinned at him before I pushed him down the stairs and into his chair, causing Max to start a coughing fit to hide her laughter.

"Wow Fang, that's a new look for you. You should wear that more often." Iggy raised his eyebrows.

"Liking the look Max?" To everyone's surprise it wasn't Iggy that said this, it was Nudge.

"Nudge!" Max scolded, after choking on her piece of bacon, which she had conveniently shoved into her mouth just before Nudge had said that. I resisted the urge to snort, knowing I was more likely to think that than Max was. Max flushed bright red and Gazzy started giggling at something Angel had said.

"What are you two giggling at?" Fang asked cautiously, we had all grown suspicious of Angel lately, she was turning into a real devil child.

"Oh, just something A's thinking." She turned to grin evilly at me, only to be faced with my best poker face.

"And?" Iggy asked, intrigued. I glared at him, even though he couldn't see me.

"I'm glaring at you Ig." He nodded, looking directly at me.

"I thought you might be." I rolled my eyes then spoke my action to him. God, I was going to murder Angel. Brutally. Perhaps with a chainsaw.

"Cliche." Angel replied, looking bored at the fact I was planning to kill her. "No one uses chainsaw's anymore." Max snickered quietly, and I knew she was one of the few people who _would_ use a chainsaw to kill someone. Perhaps I could move all her plush toys to the backyard and attach the bomb I confiscated from Iggy and Gazzy all those weeks ago. Ah yes, I could imagine it now. A humongous boom, Angel running out only to find her self surrounded by pieces of teddy bears raining from the sky. Oh look, heads. Now an arm. Perhaps a few legs tossed in?

"No!" Angel cried running out of the room, looking stricken.

"Sorry! I don't usually let it go that far." The rest of the flock stared at me, they didn't know I was slowly torturing Angel whenever she pissed me off.

"What the he-double matchsticks was that about?" Nudge asked, staring after Angel.

"Max, Anni has a bomb!" Max glared at me.

My "Uh, no I don't." was mixed with Gazzy's "Is that the M-80 you confiscated from us last Christmas?" Max glared at me while Fang smothered a chuckle with his hand.

"Anni? Is this true?" I stayed still. Then, as always when this kind of thing happens, my left eyelid twitched. Max launched herself over the table into my now empty spot as I sprinted into the hall, jumping out the large window there, dropping into the canyon below. I unfurled my wings after a few seconds of free falling, god I love that feeling. A heavy body tackled me to the ground just as I reached the clifftop a few hundred yards from the house, stopping me from injury by wrapping their arms around my waist and slowing the descent by flying up at the last minute and landing softly on the hard, rocky ground. I stiffened in his arms, the arms that clearly belonged to Fang. I started to worry, as he didn't let me go and the fact I was currently pressed against him, his bare skin caressing mine where my T-shirt had ridden up.

"Fang?" I tried to twist out, but he had me trapped. I gasped as he released me, only to spin around to face him, pinning me to a tree. "Fang?" I stared in his eyes, which were currently only inches away from mine. "Fang, are you okay?" I whispered, anxiously trying to get away from him, scared of what I might do to him if I was in that close a proximity to him. He sighed slightly and leaned closer, sliding a hand into the middle of my back. His other hand threaded itself through my hair and then rested on the back of my neck, his fingers drawing patterns there. He leaned closer until I could feel his warm breath on my lips and I wriggled in his grasp. "Fang..?" He didn't respond, only leaning in closer, his lips almost brushing mine when a twig snapped behind us. I sighed with relief and swivelled in his grip, staring at where the noise had come from.

"Come on out Angel." The six-year-old mutant stepped out from the bush, shaking her head in an attempt to shake the leaves off.

"Stupid twig." She muttered, glaring at said twig. I shivered as Fang's breath touched the back of my neck where my hair had been whipped aside in the wind of the flight.

"How did you get out here-? Have you been out here since you ran out? No wait, you said the thing with bomb…" I murmured, trying to make sense of it.

"You think I did this alone?" Angel scoffed, shaking her head so her curls bobbed. "Gazzy imitated my voice, saying what I asked him to. He earned a clean five dollars out of it. That," She smirked pointedly, as if it were obvious. "is for the poor teddy bears that had to die for your thoughts." She launched herself off the cliff, sweeping swiftly back towards the house. I cringed as I realized I was now alone with Fang again. Jesus, was it me or did this boy _want_ to be jumped? I swiveled to face him, and, thinking he was further away than he actually was, ended up with my nose against his. Not the slight knock that usually happened, but my nose was against his cheek. Our eyes widened as we took in our position, though probably for different reasons. I chuckled awkwardly and glanced up at the sky.

" Heh, nice weather we're having huh?" He rolled his eyes at my comment, not removing himself from this predicament by accepting the change of subject.

"Anni? Are you okay?" That was it, I couldn't take it anymore! I pushed him away from me and launched myself over the cliff, letting myself free fall until I was close to the fog that shrouded the bottom of the canyon. I glanced up behind me, only just barely making out his still figure, even with my eyes. What I didn't see was the sorrowful look his face held ever since I had pushed him away. He took the fact that if I had of gotten any closer I would have either jumped him, or killed him, as a rejection.

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><p>(AN): Plus, if you can guess which celebrity I based Anni off of, you get a cyber cookie! (::) or, if you're a health freak, a cyber apple! (#) mmm, shiny!


	2. The Kiss and I was not stalking you

(A/N): Hey Guys! So, second chapter up today! hope you like it! If you can guess which celebrity I based Anni's looks off of, I'll give you a cyber cookie, or a cyber apple, of your choice. (::) or (#)

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Anni.

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><p>Anni<p>

My god, this probably the most awkward moment of my life. Ah, the joys of being pushed into the room Max and I shared by said roommate, Angel and Nudge. Max shoved me onto the bed next to Angel and sat across us on her bed with Nudge.

"So? What happened? Was it good? What happened? How did it feel? Were you nervous? What-?" Naturally, Nudge was the first to speak, and in quantity too. She would have kept speaking, but Max had clamped her hand over her mouth, rendering her helpless.

"What happened between you and Fang? I saw him follow you out, I basically didn't chase you after that." I flushed with both embarrassment and anger.

"Why don't you ask Angel, she did arrange this whole thing after all." I glared at the innocent looking six-year-old sitting next to me, leaning against my bed head, wrapping my arms around my knees and resting my chin on top.

"Angel." Max growled expectantly, watching her attempt to keep her face steady.

"I did no such thing." I scoffed and raised my eyebrows at her.

"Oh yeah, so the entire escapade on the cliff where you told me Gazzy had imitated your voice with the bomb comment so you could stalk me and Fang was a figment of my imagination?" I glowered darkly at Angel, daring her to disagree.

"I wasn't _stalking_ you. I was watching you." I snorted indignantly.

"From the bushes." I added while Max and Nudge smothered a smile.

"She's right Angel. That does classify as stalker-like."

"You guys are the ones who suggested it! You can't just blame me!" Max and Nudge paled, glaring at Angel while glancing at me to see my reaction. Fury etched on my face I launched my self at Nudge and Max, dragging them off the bed onto the floor. I heard the door open and Angel turn herself towards the person standing there.

"Oh hi Fang, we were just talking about-" Angel stopped talking long enough to dodge as I launched myself at her. Nudge used this time to run out the door, Angel following on her heels. I slumped down onto the floor, my face against the edge of the bed. Max grinned at me evilly as she raced out the door, pushing Fang inside with me before locking the door after her.

"Uh…do I even want to know what you guys were talking about?" I jumped as Fang's voice reached my ears, he could only be a maximum of a foot away. I shivered slightly as his fingertips brushed the back of my neck.

"Are you okay?" I nodded against the bedspread, gritting my teeth in determination. I felt him shift onto his back, his hand still massaging my neck. I sighed in relief as his hand paused, only to inhale sharply again when they trailed across my neck and up to my cheek. His fingers caressed my face and I frowned into the bed spread. I turned my head to face him, glaring at him, hoping he would stop. Instead he simply smiled at me tenderly and stroked across my cheekbone. I raised my eyebrows in a silent question never answered, because at that moment he leant his forehead against mine. Bloody men. They're so god damn frustrating. Don't get me wrong, I would be more than happy for him to be kissing me, but due to my condition, I knew I couldn't. So, instead of letting him lean in and kiss me like I really wanted, I slid my head next to his and wrapped my arms around his shoulders in a hug, thus stopping him from kissing me. I did, however, kiss him on the cheek after he joined my hug, enjoying the fact he stiffened in my arms when I did so. What I didn't expect however was him pressing his lips to the space between my neck and my collarbone. I felt him smile against my neck as I moaned quietly, which should have been below even his hearing. Apparently I'm not as good as I used to be.  
>"You like that." I swallowed stiffly as he said this, his voice muffled against my flesh. I nodded carefully.<p>

"Yes." I whispered hollowly, my voice full of sorrow.

"Then why won't you let me kiss you?"

Fang

"Women are so confusing." I ground out, glaring at the ceiling high above me.

"We heard you the first six hundred and fifty-three times, Fang. By the way, that's the longest sentence you've spoken in almost a day. It used to just be '_she_ is so confusing. You still haven't told us what she did to deserve the 'confusing' treatment. Or why you came in here with a hand print on your face." Iggy drawled boredly, he had been listening to me since at least 12 o clock yesterday morning. I glanced over at the alarm clock we owned and groaned. Two am! I'm never going to sleep. The all too few minutes of Anni and I's altercation echoed through my mind.

**FLASHBACK**

_**I massaged the back of her neck with my fingertips, enjoying the feel of her soft skin under my fingers. I grinned as I felt her shiver at the small contact.**_

_"**Are you okay?" I asked gently, worried she would suddenly stand up and massacre me with a chainsaw. I rolled onto my back as she nodded into the bedspread, my spine resting on the side of the bedframe. I stopped my hand movement for a second before trailing my hand around to the side of her neck and up to caress her cheek. She turned to face me, her eyes set in an only somewhat menacing glare. In turn, I simply smiled at her tenderly and ran my hand across her cheekbone and rested my forehead against hers. Instead of letting me lean in to kiss her she moved her head into the hollow of my neck and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. I slid my hands up into the hollow of her spine and dragged her closer to my body. I stiffened slightly as she pecked me on the cheek. I raised an eyebrow and pressed my lips onto the skin between her neck and her collarbone, relishing in the fact that she moaned quietly as I did so. I smiled wide against her neck.**_

_"**You like that." I stated my voice muffled against her flesh, watching her nod slowly.**_

_"**Yes." She whispered her voice full of sadness.**_

_"**Then why won't you let me kiss you?"**_

_She pulled away and stared at her feet._

_She mumbled something I didn't understand so I leaned closer and stared up at her face from underneath. Suddenly she pounced on me, her lips pressing down on mine, our lips moving in unison. Her head tilted to the side slightly so our noses weren't mashed up against each other. I touched my tongue to her bottom lip and she opened her mouth, allowing me to swirl my tongue in her mouth. She pulled away, both of us out of breath, the taste of her lips lingering on mine._

_"Because I don't like you." I frowned as she said this. I mean, one minute she kisses me, and the next she says she doesn't like me? Can you understand my confusion?_

_"Huh?" Was my all-intelligent response to that humongous blow to my ego. "Why not?"_

_"Because…I…uh…I…gr." The end of her stuttered question ended in a frustrated growl as she slapped her hand into my cheek and stormed out._

**END FLASHBACK **

"It doesn't matter." I grumbled, rolling over to glare at the wall in front of me.

"You've been talking about this for…fourteen hours- fourteen hours? Jesus Christ Fang, that long? And you say that 'it doesn't matter'?" His tone was exasperated at first, and then shocked, before turning into anger.

"That's because it doesn't!" I exclaimed, quiet enough as to not wake up the others. Gazzy had fallen asleep a few hours ago, man that kid could sleep through anything. "I'm going to try to get some sleep." I muttered, punching the pillow before burrowing my face into it.

"Finally!" I heard Iggy exclaim before setting the alarm clock he had been fiddling with on the side table beside his bed.

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><p>(AN): I hope you enjoyed this chapter enough to review! *hint hint*


	3. A Day Out and The Start Of It All

(A/N): Hey Guys! Oh wow. I've had this story on my laptop for ages, I finished this chapter a month or two ago, but I must have forgotten about it. My old ebook, the one this was on, ran out of charge and I couldn't recharge it so I had to wait until a few weeks ago when I got a new laptop to actually manage to charge my ebook and getting all my stories off it, and change them over to my new laptop. Also, my microsoft word is acting up and won't let me copy, paste, type or edit anything, so I had to stuff around with it for a while before I could open this story, in Notepad, which you all know is a notoriously bad writing tool. It has not spell check or word count, and I had to edit this chapter twice so it wasn't just one really big chunk of writing without quotation marks or anything. Not quotation marks, no apostrophes and no full stops until I just edited it, so I hope you enjoy this chapter and please, please review! Also, Could you please check out some of my other stories?

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC Anni and any additional changes she makes to the story line.

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><p>Fang<p>

Sitting at the breakfast table the next morning, I glanced over at Anni, who was letting Iggy handle the cooking today.

"I want to go pick strawberries today. They're ripe now!" Angel said before scooping a large forkful of eggs into her mouth.

"Okay Angel, I'll go with you." Gazzy said before letting one of his...unfortunate gaseous explosions rip.

"Oh jeez Gazzy!" Max scorned disapprovingly, try to wave the stench away with her hand.

"Gas mask!" Iggy gasped, collapsing to the floor dramatically.

"I'm done." I said, quickly rising from the table and rinsing my plate in the sink.

"Yeah Angel, I think the fresh air will do us all good. I'll go too." Nudge said with a smile.

"We'll all go." Max announced with a smile, helping Angel and Nudge with their plates.

Outside, the sun was shining brightly on the soft green grass and tall pine trees, birds flying through the air chirping happily. It all looked like a painting one might see in the home of an elderly woman with thirty cats, but the sun was nice, so I didn t particularly care.

I glanced around and noticed Anni was missing, panicking for a split second before I looked behind me. There she was, her long, golden blonde hair, slightly wavy and shining in the warm sunlight, her pale blue eyes shining as she smiled at a squirrel that ran past her. Her skin was only slightly darker than alabaster pale, and smooth, mostly free of freckles.

Slowing my pace I fell back beside her, not looking at her, just looking around. Anni and I had been best friends from birth, her quirky and curious, me pessimistic and brooding. We had always been an odd pair, but recently I had noticed she was less talkative, more cautious, She had started changing after Jeb left. Maybe it was grief related, or maybe she was just growing up, but I was still worried about her. Chancing a glance over at her, I saw that she was no longer smiling. Her face was thoughtful, but full of badly hidden fear and worry. She wasn t looking my way, but instead at the rest of the flock. They were a few feet of us, carrying baskets just like we were, ready to collect some strawberries. Angel was skipping about in a zigzag pattern in front of the other, swinging the basket around on her forearm, her blonde curls bouncing as she did so.

"If you make cake, I can make strawberry shortcakes." she said happily.

"Yeah, that ll be the day, when Max makes a cake." I heard Iggy say. "I'll make it, Angel."

"Oh thank you! Okay, I m not a fabulous cook. But I can still kick your butt, and don't you forget it!" Max threatened. Iggy was laughing, holding up his hands in denial. Nudge was trying not to laugh, Anni had a smile on her face, and even I was grinning. And the Gasman looked mischievous.

"Was that you?" Max asked Gazzy scoldingly, looking like an angry parent as she did so. He grinned and shrugged, trying not to look too pleased with himself.

The Gasman had been about three when I realized he could mimic just about any sound or voice. I d lost count of how many times Iggy and I had almost come to blows over stuff Gazzy had said in our voices. It was a dark gift, and he wielded it happily.

In front of us, Angel froze and screamed. Anni and I shared a look before racing forward, reaching the others just as a group of Erasers burst from the tree. Since I hadn t stopped when I reached the flock, I used the momentum of my run to leap into the air and land a hard roundhouse kick to the first ones chest, sending him back, wheezing. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Anni race at the next Eraser, but I didn t have the second it would have taken for me to panic. Bending at the knee she ducked to avoid the Eraser s thickly muscled arm as he swung at her. Without a choice of weapons, she swung the thick sided wicker basket at the Eraser s face, grinning wickedly as it made contact, the side of the main impact breaking open a hole in the side where his head had burst through. Ouch, he was going to have a concussion at the least.

Abandoning the basket to hang around her preys neck, she hit him with a well-placed kick to the stomach, leaving him groaning on the ground. As I glanced around, I saw Iggy fighting an Eraser capably, but another was sneaking up on him from behind. Racing over, I grabbed him from behind, ignoring his struggling as I locked my arms around his neck and snapped it. Hearing the snap, and probably my slightly irregular breath, he quickly spun to look my way. Of course, turning attention away from his fight caused him to get punched in the face by a full grown Eraser. Nothing we can t handle, I assure you. I punched an Eraser full on in his wolf-like face and felt the bones in my hand shriek in protest.

Two more Erasers ganged up on me, charging at me the same time the first one did, and I was slammed tot he ground, all air escaping from my lungs as they started hacking at me with their clawed hands. The first Eraser went down as one of my friends punched him in the spine, the second grabbed from behind. I forced my legs underneath the last Eraser and kicked him off of me before launching at him, laying into him with all I had. As soon as I had an opening, I snapped his neck and he fell to the floor, dead and motionless.

"A little help here?" A voice said from behind me. Underneath a flailing Eraser was Anni, her slim but strong arms capturing him in a full nelson hold. A proud smirk blossomed on my face as I started towards her. I was too far away to stop the Eraser though, when he had slammed his arm back into Anni s face, forcing her to let him go as her nose started to gush blood. As the Eraser started to charge towards me, I sunk into a fighting stance, stunned out of it when he suddenly dropped to his knees, and then to the ground, a butter knife sticking out of his back where his heart would be. I raised my eyes to meet Anni s and she nodded slightly before grabbing what looked to be a napkin from a small black backpack she must have brought with us. Using the material to staunch the blood, we made our way over tot he others, who were crowded around Max, who was lying on the ground, bruised and bloodied.

"Max?" The Gasman asked worriedly, receiving a horrid, pained moan from the collapsed figure of Max. I edged closer to Anni, whose gaze flicked to me before she returned it back to Max.

"Let me see your nose." I ordered her, fighting the urge to raise an eyebrow as she rolled her eyes at me.

"I already know it s broken." She said before taking the now bloodied napkin from her face to let me look at it, Tilting her head slightly upwards and to the side, I noticed that she was correct, her nose was broken. She swatted my hand away as Max sat up.

"I'm okay." She said before glancing around. "Where's angel?" My expression darkened as everyone lowered their eyes.

"She's gone, they took her." The realisation dawned on Max s face and I saw the sorrow hidden behind her eyes. I was interrupted however, by a sickening sound, a mix between a grinding and the sound you got when you twisted a loose tooth. Turning towards the sound I saw Anni re-positioning her nose so that it would heal straight. Turning her head to the side, she spat bloody spit onto the forest floor and cleaned what blood she could from her face.

"We have to- we have to find her." Max stuttered, leaning against me for support as she swayed on her feet slightly.

"Is anyone hurt?" She asked quietly, looking around at us all, one by one.

"I m up for it." Iggy said, his voice made thick by the split lip he was sporting, from where the Eraser had hit him.

"I'm good." Nudge said in a teary voice, lifting her head, trying to be strong.

"You know I'm in." Gazzy said with a grimace. Of course he was, Angel was his little sister.

"I'm in." I announced quietly, silently thinking how scared Angel must be.

"I think I'm good to go." Anni said, pushing the bloody napkin inside the backpack she now slung over her shoulder.

"Where'd you get that?" Max asked, curious despite the situation.

"I brought it from the house. I was actually planning a picnic." I grinned, probably surprising most of them.

"I still think it s cool the way you killed that one Eraser with the butter knife!" Max raised an eyebrow in Anni's direction.

"How did you-?" Iggy cut her off by way of shushing her and tilting his head slightly, listening. Listening closely, I could hear it too.

The thick grumble of a four-wheel-drive vehicle.

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><p>(AN): Please Review and/or check out some of my other stories! Also, I'm going to be entering a competition at my school. You have to write a two page persuasive argument on why someone should read a book you've read, and I could win an ipad. Wish me luck! This chapter has 1,660 words without the Authors Note, by the way!


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